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Post by akosjaccik on Oct 31, 2019 12:56:33 GMT -6
For the weekend allow me to present the battle of February, gents! I do not plan to detail every engagement in such a way, as there is little point in finishing the AAR somewhere around 2032, if I don't burn out well before that, but in these initial clashes there is much to experience for myself. I'll also note that I'm still at February in the campaign, so if I'll do anything interesting in the same month (and considering that 12"(Q-1) kicked the door in just right now, there is a real threat of me doing so), I'll get back to February once more. For now, let's just see the battle!
The 8th of February, 1905 A tale about fire and water
With Sankt Georg and Zenta both in repairs - the former due to a particularly unlucky medium-caliber hit, the latter due to damage caused mainly by shell fragments - and with the Ersatz Zenta-class cruisers still half a year away from completion, the remaining two cruisers Donau and Aspern formed an ad-hoc cruiser division with strong destroyer escort to patrol the waters in front of Zara. Their briefing incorporated the analysis of last month's battle and were advised to stay near home ports and either take advantage of the situation, should the opportunity present itself, and preferably break the enemy formation apart and utilize concentrated fire or disengage against superior enemy presence.
On the 8th of February, at around 13:00 the division's lookouts reported contact and later clarified that the opposing force is flying italian colors and appears to be consisting of a large armored-, and two protected cruisers with perhaps three to five destroyers. Italian superiority - but not overwhelming supremacy. Let's frame this the right way, and here we have "opportunity presenting itself".
~15:00 - As it was expected, the italian division accepted the battle and soon enough, the cruisers began to trade fire. In a rather valorous way our protected cruiser Aspern - unlike her italian counterparts - formed up with the Donau and does not seem to be willing to leave the Donau alone in the fight despite the intense shelling. As the forces are sailing into the wind, neither side gained the advantage and so far neither seems to be able to severely damage the other. While a protracted engagement is sure to favour the italians, we are still inside our safety margin. Hopefully.
~16:00 - As the winter sun is starting to descend under the horizon however, something strange happens: an italian Nino Bixio-class cruiser leaves the protection of her formation, possibly due to steering failure. There! That right there is our opening - and with that, the austro-hungarian cruisers shift speed to flank ahead and proceed to encircle - practically run down - the lone Nino Bixio despite the incoming fire.
The hussars have their land of origin in the Balkans, and as the two cruisers lunged forward, it seemed so that the sea won't contain their spirits either
~17:00 - Fortune had other plans for the protected cruiser, however, because barely a few minutes later than the encircling maneuver started, one of Marco Polo's 15cm armor piercing grenade hits and ignites Donau's superstructure, and soon enough half of the ship is ablaze. Pursuit has to be called off and in order for the firefighters to work on the deck without interference, Donau is ordered to disengage. ...if the italians will let her do so.
17:39 - Of course, the italians do not let her to do so. So far the Marco Polo acted almost overly cautiously, but now that she spotted the turning Donau burning like a bonfire, she smelled blood and threw caution into the wind and started pursuing without her escorts being able to catch up. At 17:00 Aspern's destroyers notice this while watching the muzzle flashes and conduct a textbook torpedo attack in short order from their advantageous position. The Marco Polo is caught by surprise in the darkness, and although she opens fire, it's too little and too late. At 17:39, Panther's fish detonates just under the forward turret of the italian 8800-ton armored cruiser, and the damage proves to be fatal.
S.M.S. Panther reports a torpedo hit on the hostile large cruiser at 17:39
~19:00 - The detonation leaves the italian remnants in cold shock. While their two small cruisers continue to hound the austro-hungarian retreat, as far as they are concerned, this battle is over. As for the Donau on the other hand, the fighting isn't over just yet. The water demanded and took sacrifice - will fire too? The crew is exthausted and Donau is barely more than a floating Hell but her wounded, heat-shocked and smoke-afflicted crew is just doing their duty, not willing to abandon ship. One more hour until arriving at Zara - "one hour, just keep her afloat for one more hour", they are shouting, and the "Phoenix bird", as later informally called by her survivors, is not going down. Not tonigh.
For five hours straight, Donau's crew were not willing to give up and continued to pull her away from the brink of destruction. Photo taken by escorting destroyer S.M.S. Cobra
~20:00 - Finally the hero of the night also limps into harbor, mauled and in grave danger of foundering, but with unbroken spirit. One of Panther's crewman concluded that the ship at this time was in such a state that she was certain to go under if someone were as much as threw down a glass of water.
For her victory, Panther almost paid the ultimate price. Aftermath of the torpedo run on the night of the 8th of February, 1905.
Said crew member also noted that since they rather drink wine, that glass of water never arrived and thus Panther returned to safety under the veil of the night.
The duel of the armored cruisers - click HERE for the larger versionNote: the visualization contains a whole lot of approximation, uncertainty and possible inaccuracies and mistakes Miraculously, on our part every ship was accounted for once again. Italy lost a heavy cruiser - but they have six more. Strategically speaking, we best not overblow the importance of this victory. On the other hand we should not dismiss the psychological part of the engagement either, which showed that Italy can be beaten, and if our luck will hold up - will be beaten; and if they trespass on our territorial waters, they might have to face losses. For the first time in the war, Austria-Hungary achieved victory, and undebatable victory. A victory, however, that will hurt us more than profit us if we let it cloud our vision. The deficiencies in armoring the ships' external sections yet again showed up, but also worth noting the importance of the damage control and the fact that Italy lost a 8800-ton ship and six hundred lives to a single Whitehead Mk.I torpedo. This time we were the ones firing the torpedo, but it's only a matter of time for us to find ourselves on the receiving end. Our new cruisers, temporarily referred to as Ersatz Zenta-class, are the first vessels built with double bottoms, but that will not be enough to stop 50 kilograms of wet guncotton, so it will be wise for us to take at least just as much lesson from the engagement as the italians. As fires rage over the Adriatic sea however, there is important work to be done on the homefront as well.
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Post by mycophobia on Oct 31, 2019 15:11:41 GMT -6
Yay, update treat for Halloween xD
Been looking forward to this battle, and the writing made the fight to save Donau all the more heroic and dramatic. Heres hoping the Phoenix can live up to its name down the line as well. I also like the insert "Mini movement map" on the top left, gives a very clear idea of the exact point of battle being discussed (Something I always find difficult to do with words alone).
Your strategy of sticking close to ports and take what opportunity that can arise is probably the best way to approach this war, but it will be helpful if there could be some joint operation with the French. A fleet engagement with French B support might even turn a closely fought war to a overwhelming victory.
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Post by garrisonchisholm on Oct 31, 2019 16:30:21 GMT -6
Say, I have a question about the Donau's turrets. They have turrets that seem almost (forgive me) "Mon Calamari" in their organic nature, what with their curving hoods. I know they are period, but yet they also look exotic. If we were to see one of these turrets up close would it be composed of flat plates, or were they truly crafted from one smooth curved piece of plate?
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Post by akosjaccik on Oct 31, 2019 18:02:45 GMT -6
That was so much in line with my thinking that the potential for joint operations was the foremost reason of myself offering alliance to France instead of the U.S.
While this was by all means a sensible and very, very lucky option to take, so far I got absolutely nothing out of it. At the eve of war France stationed one single destroyer in the Mediterranean, and to add insult to injury, Italy reduced that number to zero within a month:
Now for February, they were kind enough to send a cruiser down here apparently, but they are certainly not seem to be happy-go-lucky when it comes to the war. At this point I'll be content if I see one single french vessel in action.
That's actually a fairly interesting question and can't say I am a hundred percent sure! Donau's new-ish main armament is based largely on the historical S.M.S. Kaiserin und Königin Maria Theresia armored cruiser's turrets housing a single 24cm K L/35 gun. While I have a good enough idea of their shape and very vague specifications, I've found no information regarding the manufacturing technology. However, based on the images available...
...considering the surface of the turret roof my tips would either include steel plate rolling or casting; and taking a closer look at this freeform shape on the model, I'd put my money on the turret being a cast steel one. The design is not without international connections however, for example the german Siegfried-class coastal defense ships also had a relatively similar turret shape. I find the design actually fairly nifty, rational and possibly weight-efficient against low-trajectory fire, but it's likely rather cramped and only really works for single gun turrets I imagine - these factors might be part of the explanation why they were not commonplace in the first place.
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Post by garrisonchisholm on Oct 31, 2019 18:10:22 GMT -6
That was so much in line with my thinking that the potential for joint operations was the foremost reason of me offering alliance to France instead of the U.S.
While this was by all means a sensible and very, very lucky option to take, so far I got absolutely nothing out of it. At the eve of war France stationed one single destroyer in the Mediterranean, and to add insult to injury, Italy reduced that number to zero within a month:
Now for February, they were kind enough to send a cruiser down here apparently, but they are certainly not seem to be happy-go-lucky when it comes to the war. At this point I'll be content if I see one single french vessel in action.
France's Build Area is in the North Sea, so unfortunately their strategy will be to recall their ships to that location. In past games where even a mild contribution would have blockaded Italy for me I have never seen them do it. I brought it up for discussion, but so far changes to AI strategy have not been on the short list.
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Post by akosjaccik on Oct 31, 2019 18:12:54 GMT -6
France's Build Area is in the North Sea, so unfortunately their strategy will be to recall their ships to that location. In past games where even a mild contribution would have blockaded Italy for me I have never seen them do it. I brought it up for discussion, but so far changes to AI strategy have not been on the short list. Oof, my heart! Well, that explains it! ...and I even played France in the not too distant past, yet I failed to think about that! Yikes.
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Post by Adseria on Nov 3, 2019 6:22:19 GMT -6
Of course, having room to improve is in most cases best taken as an opportunity. Indeed. Best get to work
While I'm here, here's a little suggestion I just thought up:
In these kinds of images, it would be nice to have the classification and the class name, as well as the name of the individual ship. For example: Aspern (CL Zenta-class). It would save having to look them up. At the very least, it would be nice for the larger ships (cruisers and up), I'm not so bothered about destroyers and corvettes.
akosjaccik.uw.hu/diary/1905/ex04.png
It was a pleasant surprise, seeing that image
I also like the insert "Mini movement map" on the top left, gives a very clear idea of the exact point of battle being discussed (Something I always find difficult to do with words alone). I second this. I also liked the small map showing the Panther's torpedo attack on the Marco Polo; something that I hope we'll see again in future battles, particularly, once the Wright Brothers have made their first flight
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Post by akosjaccik on Nov 8, 2019 19:06:07 GMT -6
Adseria : Fair suggestion, I'll implement it, if I won't forget about it! Possibly even link the ship's datasheet, when it's appropriate.
For now, just to quickly finish up the month February (otherwise I'll start to play this in real-time...)
(still) February, 1905 The Iron Gates of Pola
As fires rage over the Adriatic sea however, there is important work to be done on the homefront as well. Not least because Škoda notified the Marinetechnisches Kommittee that finally their 30,5cm ordnance design is ready for production. Most likely to their surprise, the return mail immediately ordered eight guns with two spare barrels for each. They did not-, as could not know that their artillery piece was esentially the final piece in the puzzle, and with that, the gears were set in motion.
- Preliminary calculations already entertained the idea of medium wing turrets since the commerce mission arrived back home with data about possible italian usage of heavy secondary battery back in 1902.
- Just a year after, in 1903, italian naval engineer Vittorio Cuniberti seriously considered the feasibility of a "naval colossus". While Mr. Cuniberti's thesis - to be fair: just as with anything dwelving into the future - is heavily debated, the influence of his work is rather noticeable.
Mr. Cuniberti's proposed colossus
- The Wien-class is undergunned, the Budapest-class came out very slow but above all, each and every legacy design is prone to dangerous flooding from the fore-, and aft sections after their extended belt is defeated, as we are experiencing in the ongoing war.
- Although our budget reserve was allocated to the cruiser construction program, those funds will free up in about six months, and the slips are - as the hulls are ready and currently being fitted out - cleared and available.
As such, the plans for a new battleship were hanging in the air for some time now, but so far they were missing the final piece; a reliable, domestically produced and competitive choice for the main armament. Fortunately, Škoda delivered, and never in a better time!
The political climate and the small coal bunkers warrant the term "coastal defense" battleship. Not sure how much longer can we sell our combat vessels packaged as "defense ships".
As per usual, the final design was not free of some controversy. The main points of criticism were aimed at the lackluster medium-, and small caliber armament and the "experimental" or "disastrous" (should we listen to one side or the other's framing) armor layout. This design philosophy ditched the approach of armoring different areas against different kind of threats and practically divided the ship into two sections. The waterline, machinery and the magazines all around got armored uniformly with 10 inch Krupp cemented plates (creating esentially an "armored skirt" on the waterline), closed off on top with a 2 inch deck in full lenght. The turrets are intended to be protected by at least 10 inches of armor, 12 in case of the main turrets. The conning tower also got 10 inches of wall thickness, the rest, however, including the 15cm casemates, are virtually unprotected. Critics pointed at the possibility that a single lucky underwater hit might bypass perhaps the narrow armor belt, or that the unarmored areas will spell doom for the ship in other ways, and while the intent was to keep the ship protected from any gunfire on the potentially lethal areas, the project Ersatz Erzherzog will succumb to even medium calibers due to the presence of the relatively large unprotected areas. "Well", remarked one of the engineers, "if that will be the case, she'll still not fare any worse than any of our current vessels with conventional layouts."
The sound of gunfire in the distance does wonders to the work morale though, and the plans were accepted after a brief, although intense debate. Thus the order for the eight Skoda rifles: current plans are to lay down the keels of two battleships according to the Ersatz Erzherzog's specifications after about three months of preparational phase.
Whatever the fate of the battleships formally addressed as the "replacement for the Erzherzog-class" will be, said fate won't be realized for more than two years from now on. Considering that we have a war to wage now, orders were issued to buy up six civilian vessels capable of at least 19 knots to act as armed merchant cruisers equipped with the 10cm SFK L/40 (E) Model 1903. Estimated time of the arrival for these new combatants: about four months. After all, if war is about business, might as well conduct them with ships suited for business.
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Post by garrisonchisholm on Nov 8, 2019 21:22:52 GMT -6
beautiful. I could say more, but "beautiful" will do.
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Post by akosjaccik on Nov 9, 2019 9:50:33 GMT -6
garrisonchisholm : Thank you. Even still, they leave some to be desired - some of these are my "fault" (mistakes or in some cases, incompetent work), some of these are not (simplifications for time management reasons, missing information, limited possibilities with my tools, looking for a decent compromise etc.), but it actually gives an opportunity to write a bit about how they correlate to, well, reality. Mainly for two reasons, one is the fact that I tend to at least try to look up and utilize historical sources to an "optimal" extent (after all, one of my original aims for this project was to "learn and get better at things", but also to progress with the game) and I really should point out that a large part of the credit goes out to the history and to the people who lived trough it; and the second reason is that I've began this thread a long ago by saying "this might be the place for additional stuff". So, now for the additional stuff.
What the hell is historical authenticity anyway?
Historically, with the end of the Great War, the Kaiserliche und Königliche Marine de jure ceased to exist (one could argue that de facto this happened a bit earlier). In case I won't screw up royally, "my navy" perhaps will live and prosper somewhat longer. In order for myself being able to keep the "austro-hungarian flavour" or implement their design touches and "style" into my own RtW2 designs, I wanted to study it as much as a layman can do such, so once the historical background burns away and I won't have any supporting data left (although if I recall correctly, TZoli might have good material on some possible future A-H designs, it would still surprise me if I could find stuff about carrier sketches for example...) I can still continue the game without breaking the flow and taste. In this sense, I&I, as probably most AARs, is an alternate history, a divergence of paths while hopefully still able to retain the links between neighbouring events and elements. This is the reason why legacy- and early designs in I&I are, while not a one-on-one copy, heavily influenced by actual historical ships. To show examples of this, I started my Paint Shop Pro, and did some shoddy photoshopping.
HISTORICALLY, the S.M.S. Babenberg was a Habsburg-class pre-dreadnought ( source of the image) built by the STT and launched on the 4th of October, 1902. With ~8200 tons of displacement, she carried 3 x 24cm/40 (let's say in RtW's terms 9in), 12 x 15cm (6in) and 10 x 7cm/45 (3in) quick-firing guns besides others and two underwater torpedo tubes. Top speed was roughly at about ~19,5kts, and was armored with a main belt of ~180-220mm (~7-~8,5 in) thickness. D:40mm (~1,5 in), T:280mm (11 in), CT:150mm (~6 in).
IN I&I, the battleship Erzherzog Franz Ferdinand (who was probably my first B-model) was built by STT sometime before 1899 - I got her as an AI-generated legacy ship. Her design features a displacement of 9000 tons, and is capable to reach a top speed of 19 knots. Armed with 3 x 9inQ-1 rifles in two turrets, 10 x 6inQ0 serve as intermediate battery, and for anti-small craft service, she's equipped with 6x3inQ0 - finally, she has two fixed torpedo tubes built in below the waterline. Armor values are: B:8", D:1,5", T:8", CT:8". Overall, you can fairly well see why I picked the Habsburg-class to serve as the basis for the E.F.F. (EDIT: Right, I forgot the goddamn smoke! That IS why it looked so strange, but I just couldn't quite... aarrrgh! Alright, it will stay this way. Talk about screw-ups... )
First of all, let me address the source of the photo, which is the excellent work of a gentleman running under the nick irootoko_jr and who is coloring monochrome photograps of the past. I highly recommend to take a (probably rather long) look! HISTORICALLY, the semi-dreadnought S.M.S. Zrínyi (also USS Zrínyi for a year after the end of the war and the collapse) belonged to the Radetzky-class battleships, which was in my subjective opinion the best battleship A-H ever produced at a given time and against a given probable opposition. On a displacement of ~14,500 tons (I'm fairly vague on the data because in some cases the source are as well) she carried four 12 inch guns in the A and Y turrets, complemented by eight 24 cm (again, let's say ~9 inch) guns in the wing turrets and 20(!) 4 inch cannons in casemate mounts. She was able to reach 20 knots, and was armored to roughly: B:9", D:2", T:10", CT:10". Interestingly, the Radetzky-sisters were the first ships to operate seaplanes during combat (not very succesfully, due to the lack of proper infrastructure for them onboard), according to Milan N. Vego's Austro-Hungarian Navan Policy - admittedly though, given the pace of aircraft development and a/c operation, it's hardly the only "first" that was born around this time.
IN I&I, the S.M.S. Hunyadi is one of the planned two semi-dreadnoughts currently running under the project-name "Ersatz Erzherzog" - the name is selected from the list that was proposed by the Marinesektion historically for the Tegetthoff-class dreadnoughts in 1911. Also, just to complicate things even further, once the ships will be actually done, the class name will be "Kaiser". No pressure. While I wasn't being able to grasp the view and perspective excellently, it's clear at first glance that the Hunyadi is larger than the historical Radetzky-class; by 3000 tons to be exact. Designed to reach 20 knots, the intended armament consists of four 12inQ-1 guns, eight 10inQ-1 and 12x6inQ0. Armored with a narrow belt, data are the following: B and BE: 10", D:2', T:12" (wing turrets 10"), CT:10". When I designed the battleship, the only thought I had in my head was the diamond-layout, and the clear idea that (given that I don't have that much to choose from) the model will be based on the Radetzky-class. The values of the design parameters were, however, entirely my own, and it is amusing for myself just now comparing the two ships how close to each other really are without intention. You can see the difference mostly on the armor layout (the Hunyadi is heavier armored on the extremities at the waterline), on the caliber difference on the wing turrets, and on the less numerous, but larger caliber intermediate battery, overall validating the larger size of the ship. Compared to the historical Radetzky's 20.000 horsepower, Hunyadi is propelled by 28.000. ... or will be, rather. Hopefully. Let's give them two or three years!
Anyway, hopefully it was a fun look at how I try to approach the "based on reality, but not recreating reality; helped by reality, but not shackled by reality in RtW2"-mentality. And more importantly, it will indeed help me to prepare to the times where there will be no "reality" to aid me anymore.
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Post by mycophobia on Nov 10, 2019 0:23:29 GMT -6
Have to say I really enjoyed this update of "additional stuff" since it resonate pretty well with me "based on reality, but not recreating reality; helped by reality, but not shackled by reality in RtW2" ^This is definitely what I tried to do with most of my builds and RtW2 games. I think it is a great amount of fun to see how things that starts mostly based in reality can deviate from it as the international situation and technological development changes. While it is definitely important to remember the "style" that you started with, it is also cool to see how ingame success/failure, and other factors mold that style as you progress. (In my case being my unhealthy obsession with Pagodas....xD) In any case, seeing how things developed in even just 5 years is already a lot of fun, and I look forward to future development of the Kaiserliche und Königliche Marine.
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Post by garrisonchisholm on Nov 10, 2019 12:12:41 GMT -6
I just think its wonderful that you're taking the time to do these write-ups on your designs. Its like having a wonderful coffee-table book on the subject. Your efforts are wonderfully appreciated.
Out of curiosity though, once you get down to it and decide to do a page like you did above for Ersatz Erzherzog, how long does it take from choosing the model's source, drawing it, then laying it out with all the call-out balloons on armament and features? However long it takes, it is definitely worth it.
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Post by akosjaccik on Nov 11, 2019 14:13:10 GMT -6
Huh, good question. I tend not to think too much about that... Basically, your question touches upon purely the modeling process, if I understand it correctly? It's hard to quantify, but if you point a gun to my temple right now, I'd probably be able to throw together a model with E.F.F.'s (nigh-nonexistent) complexity - in that case, I hadn't really thought about rendering some silly illustrations for the AAR and only really concerned myself with the 3D printing, and for that, this kind of resolution was good enough or in some cases (mast, secondary armament, cranes etc.) more than good enough and practically not printable in the scale I am using. However, both for the ease of the hobby and for my own satisfaction I started to go just a bit beyond the necessary detail, so I'd say the Ersatz Erzherzog needed about 25+-5 hours? I'm just quessing wildly, to be honest. I am trying to use more and more "modular" stuff, which further complicates things in summarizing the time needed. Also some other factors can come into play, like I've changed softwares relatively recently. However, allow me to show an example, it will probably be more useful than my english:
Interestingly, I've found a sweet spot where I've got just enough information at hand to actually get to know the armament, ship, equipment etc. (which is part of the aims for my project after all), but I'm not too rigid on the execution. The above model intended to be the 7cm SFK L/45, and is supposed to be - regarding the dimensions - spot-on for the caliber, correct-ish for the overall gun lenght (certain navies defined "gun lenght" in different ways in some cases) and the rest is sort-of eyeballed. If I have less information, the process slows down due to the lack of information, and in the theoretical case I'd need to produce drawings fit for manufacturing, that would again massively increase the time required. Then again, I should probably start cutting some corners here or there in order to not lose scope. Strictly speaking, my original "rule" required the first drawing, and even the rendered images were "good enough-ish" with the third. But there is always this "You could always do this better, so why not" in the back of our minds.
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Post by akosjaccik on Nov 11, 2019 18:35:59 GMT -6
March, 1905
Wolves in sheeps' clothing
France redirected one of their cruisers into the operational area, and just like they did so with the Arbalette, Italy immediately sank it. This time though the frenchmen did fight until and even beyond the bitter end, and the sinking Forbin sent off a torpedo as a farewell, taking the armored cruiser Carlo Alberto with them. Glory to the french heroes, we say! - but, in a much more quiet tone, we have to ask: Where is the Marine Nationale? Why did their comrades have to suffer, die and get wounded alone? Why did they fight alone? And why are we fighting virtually alone? The french politicians, trusting their coastal forces and fortifications on the south, divert their eyes towards their northern coastline and talk about the british threat, but this is not what was agreed upon. What was signed. What was trusted. For now, on to more pressing matters. Intelligence reported that an italian convoy is being assembled in order to supply Rhodes. Well - "reported" is an understatement, the department handed over just about the entire plan in detail (almost suspiciously so), with times and routes. Apparently, as the final section of the route will be fairly lightly defended, as the main escort will head back to Taranto, but Rhodes can only take over protection with a couple of destroyers, there is an opportunity for us to strike. Now, strategically Rhodes holds no value to us. Sinking a handful of tonnage, delivering results, scaring and confusing the italians and forcing them redirect units from the Adriatic Sea however very much does. This is a rather risky operation mainly due to the distance to our bases, but since it got approved, the available cruisers (all except for the Donau, who is still being repaired after her affair with the fire) got selected for the task alongside with destroyers Boa, Csikós and Streiter. Time is of the essence in order to set up our ambush, so their speed is desirable indeed. The First Cruiser Division quickly stowed a couple barrels of a peculiar paint on top of the usual supplies to repaint their ships while underway, then the cruisers - towing the destroyers, so they won't have problems getting back on their own in case something unexpected happens - began their journey. Unfortunately, Streiter had to detach shortly due to problems with her machinery, so right from the get go the force lost a destroyer. On the plus side, the captain of the Streiter invented some brand new, albeit rather strong phrases regarding such unpleasant situations.
Soon enough it turned out why the need for re-painting two ships in the middle of an operation while sailing just ahead of a hostile convoy, when the now uncommonly looking ships hoisted the flag of the Royal Hellenic Navy, who happened to keep some cruisers relatively similar in silhouette in service. The crews got the order that they are not allowed to open fire while flying this flag, considering that we need to keep at least a neutral opinion of us on the international scene, and doing so would be a prime, horrendous warcrime. Strictly speaking, however, simply sailing under false flag would not be. This is a huge risk on top of the already serious situation, but the ruse might gain us important minutes on a sea where we are not expected to be, and fighting with guns is but one option of many when fighting a war. Naturally, officers were somewhat skeptic in general. But even then, there was one more surprise up the austro-hungarian sleeve, and so the Donau detached from the squadron with the destroyers just prior the daybreak.
In anycase, visual contact was estabilished by the two, now lone protected cruisers with the enemy, as planned, at around the noon of the 12th of March. The "Hydra" and the "Psara" started to approach the convoy just a tad bit above cruise speed to "investigate it". One gunner's mate remarked that "This is never going to work."
Protected cruiser 'Hydra' of the Royal Hellenic Navy Certainly not the Zenta.
...it worked. The first messages of the italian cruiser warning the First Cruiser Divison to identify themselves were responded with "Message unclear". When the ship identified as a Nino Bixio-class fired a warning shot, the Zenta signalled "I am Royal Hellenic Navy cruiser Hydra". By the time the confused italians finally ordered the austro-hungarian cruisers to "Steer clear or else I use force", distance was barely more than four thousand yards, at which point the Zenta shot up a flare, to which signal both ships finally hoisted the Kriegsflagge and switched to flank speed, signalling the italians "I am opening fire".
Following their orders, however, they waited until the italians shot first - this was a gamble, but fortunately the experienced veterans of the cruiser force did not lose their cool heads while nervously waiting by their loaded guns, even though at this distance every man felt like each and every italian gun is aimed right at himself. And perhaps - none of them were terribly wrong either. Luckily, our opposition had problems with finding proper range, so their first salvo went long, and as the first shells struck the water abaft, there was very little time left to do for the italians - and that little mostly consisted of scattering. The convoy's destroyers finally grasped the situation in the midst of gunfire, and with that they also grasped the fact that said "situation" is currently charging at them at 21 knots, so they reacted accordingly: as the attackers seemed all too aware of the potential torpedo attacks, the italians tried to gain more distance rather than further decreasing it for a suicidal torpedo run in broad daylight. They turned sharply and - for the time being - steamed the hell out of there guns blazing just to catch a break.
Sadly, that wasn't something the convoy's transports were able to do.
Knowing this full well, the First Cruiser Division gave all it's attention to the cargo vessels, and those started to get mortally wounded due to the short ranged waterline hits in an alarming pace, one after the other. By the time the italian escorts, gotten pushed out to the northwest, formed up in proper line ahead formation and started to at least try to resist to the best of their capabilities and gain a foothold, that curious smoke column on the horizon even more to their northwest (that so far nobody gave much attention to in the chaos), gained a shape. A shape of the S.M.S. Sankt Georg advancing at full speed, to be exact - a sight that the merry latins really did not want to witness at this point, yet here she was with the destroyers Csikós and Boa, flanking the escorting ships, who were probably not too busy currently with having the time of their lives.
View from the S.M.S. Csikós - with the burning Nino Bixio in the background.
To it's credit, the Regia Marina fought as good as it could be expected in this situation, when Phobos reigned over the sea. Outweighted and outgunned, however, the italian commandante could've done only so much, and with the arrival of the Sankt Georg, now he was outmaneuvered as well. The First Cruiser division meanwhile just now finished off the entirety of the convoy, and faced with their remaining ammunition towards the Nino Bixio. Soon enough, the italian cruiser grinded to a halt, riddled with holes of various sizes and fighting with a fire on deck.
The destroyers tried their best to interfere, but the Kriegsmarine's small cruisers stopped them, and so the Sankt Georg finished her bloody business uninterrupted, and then the austro-hungarian squadron left the burning, sinking hulk to the sunset. Our force arrived home practically unscathed. Celebration was immense, and victory felt even sweeter in a way by getting to know that the convoy's own escorting destroyers - largely left to their own devices in the engagement - rescued more than 480 souls from their sinking vessels, including the survivors of the Nino Bixio.
The S.M.S. Zenta lobbing a 10cm shell over to the italian destroyers
So this is how it feels when the intel is correct, the Admiralty allocates the necessary resources for the task and a plan actually works. Huh. Let's not get too used to it.
Even then, caution and prudent, reserved analysis aside, that was an auspicious way to begin the spring, and the cruisers do have legitimate reason for pride. It's starting to be a running joke that by the time the Ersatz Zentas will be ready, they might as well apply for unemployment benefit. Proper morale and cheeful optimism or perilous flatulence, one wonders...?
- = * = -
The next month will be much shorter, I swear! Also, yes, I had to come up with this bollocks because of the "spawning-on-each-other" issue.
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Post by garrisonchisholm on Nov 11, 2019 18:52:28 GMT -6
Thank goodness it worked to your favor in the end! It would have been a hard injustice to lose your whole battle line because they appeared in the midst of the enemy's destroyers. (which may have happened in one alternate universe just recently...)
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